NHER 5954 (Find Spot record) - Late Upper Palaeolithic worked flints, Rushford County Hole

Pre 1916.
Various Palaeolithic finds from "...gravel cut into by the River Little Ouse at County Hole, Rushford..." were exhibited at a meeting of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia by H. H. Halls on 11 October 1909 (S1). These finds were described as "Palaeolithic flakes, a large angled dos rabattu, a core used as a chopper, a chopper and a large longer scraper, probably Acheulean…" (S1). Information from (S2).

These finds were almost certainly recovered at the confluence of the Little Ouse and the Black Bourn (which forms the boundary between the Suffolk parishes of Barnham and Euston), a site which has been known as "County Hole" since at least the late 19th century. The Rushford provenance would indicate that these finds were from the north bank of the Ouse, and therefore in Norfolk, rather than Suffolk.

At least some of the Palaeolithic finds from this site are now part of the Norwich Castle Museum's H. H. Halls collection (NWHCM : 1924.83). Halls' reported discoveries are noted by Wymer (S3), although the only potentially Lower Palaeolithic find he was able to identify in the NCM's collection was a "thick, sharp flake with secondary working". This collection does however contain Late Upper Palaeolithic material marked as being from "County Hole, Rushford", including 2 blade cores that are listed in (S4). One of these core is noted on (S2) and both are described in (S5), which also records 2 crested blade segments. Jacobi noted that these finds all have a vivid red staining that sets them apart from the later prehistoric material collected in this area. The cores are both listed in a catalogue of long blade cores compiled by N. Barton (see copy in file - from British Museum Wymer Archive). The identification of this material suggests the other finds recovered by Halls at this site were potentially also Upper Palaeolithic.

The Halls collection also includes another Upper Palaeolithic blade, although this is only labelled "Rushford" - this is recorded under NHER 5953, along with other unprovenanced material from the Rushford/Snarehill area.

Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 May 2013 and 7 August 2014.